Bringing Minority Issues to the Virginia Theater: A Talk with “Standing Rock 19,000, Mascots 0” Dire
“Are you truly honoring Natives, or simply honoring your own traditions and perceptions of Native people?” On a campus that is constantly faced with the controversial dialogue regarding the Chief Illiniwek mascot, this question hits close to home. But instead of being asked by a university student or alumni, this hard hitting question is asked by a screenwriter. More specifically, this question is asked by high school student Gabriela Ines DeLisle Diaz, the writer of “Standing Rock 19,000, Mascots 0.”
Pens to Lens is an annual, Champaign-based K-12 student screenwriting competition for East Central Illinois, organized by the Champaign Urbana Film Society. Students submit their own scripts to the festival, which are then given to Champaign area filmmakers and shown as movies at the Virginia Theater. When taking on Gabriela’s script of Standing Rock 19,000, director Rachel Berry knew that she was tackling a huge responsibility.
Standing Rock 19,000 is a film that takes place at a high school basketball game, where three students are engaging in a discussion about the school’s Native American mascot. “This film stood out to me because it had a distinct voice. The writer clearly knew her own mind and had been engaging in dialogue about these issues.” Rachel Berry is no newcomer to Pens to Lens. Her 2016 Pens to Lens film “Fast Rodney, Who Was On His Way Out” also addressed issues around race, ethnicity, class, and gender. With Standing Rock 19,000,
however, Rachel is aware of the mixed reactions that this topic provokes, stating that, “It’s a sensitive issue, and one that has never been satisfactorily addressed in our community. It’s a festering wound.”
This wound cuts deeper than simply an issue of a school mascots. Even young students are exposed to the cruel injustices that Native Americans face in this country, such as the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at the forefront of this film. Rachel Berry encourages students to educate themselves on minority rights, even if the realities are unsettling. “If young people want to live in a world without police brutality, mass incarceration, erosion of Native rights, and rampant exploitation of the environment, then they have to fight for what they believe in,” she explains.
What does Rachel want viewers to take away from “Standing Rock 19,000, Mascots 0?” Dialogue. In a community where Chief Illiniwek continues to be printed on merchandise and chanted about at games, he occupies the hearts and minds of Champaign Urbana. Although he remains at the center of controversy, many of his supports are reluctant to stand up for the sovereignty of Native American communities. “We can’t keep sweeping this conversation under the rug. It’s not going to go away if we don’t talk about it. That’s why ‘Standing Rock 19,000, Mascots 0’ is so important.”
“Standing Rock 19,000, Mascots 0,” written by Gabriela Ines DeLisle Diaz and directed by Rachel Berry, debuts at the Pens to Lens film festival on Saturday, August 12, 2017, at the Virginia Theater.